M1 fire: COJ's Brink hopes power restored to more areas on Wednesday night
Brink says City Power teams are working around the clock to restore power soon in areas such as Parktown, Braamfontein, Joburg CBD and Newtown.
In the early hours of Wednesday, 1 May 2024, a fire broke out in the tunnels under the M1 double decker section near the Joburg city centre. Picture: Gloria Motsoere/Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - Johannesburg City manager, Floyd Brink, said they were hoping to have power restored on Wednesday night in some of the areas affected by the M1 fire.
Brink said that City Power teams were working around the clock to restore power soon in areas such as Parktown, Braamfontein, Joburg CBD and Newtown.
These communities were left in the dark after a fire damaged an underground cable network on the M1 in Braamfontein last Wednesday.
The city believes the fire is a result of theft and vandalism of electricity infrastructure.
Brink said it was going to take some time to restore power to all the areas, but it's all hands on deck.
"We’re trying our utmost best to ensure that tonight we will have that area to be restored around Wits University as well as Parktown West."
Brink said they were looking at full restoration of power around 20 May.
"Due to the complexities and technicalities with regards to this particular project because it's three circuits that have been damaged, that in itself takes some time for the team to be able to do that interconnection."